Teenagers’ Tobacco Use at Record Low, including E-Cigarettes

According to official data, the teenagers’ use of e-cigarettes registered an abrupt fall last year. At the same time, overall tobacco used declined at a record low. Some antismoking advocates are saying that the statistics can prove to be the turning point when it comes to the decades-old fight against teen smoking. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s annual report, in 2016, about 11.3% of high-school students used e-cigarettes. In 2015, 15% of them did this. This is good news and the first drop since 2011, when the CDC first started tracking the e-cigarettes.

Tobacco and e-cigarette use at record low

According to the same report, only 8% of high school students smoked normal cigarettes last year. Also, over 20% of them said that they were using various tobacco products like cigars, pipes, smokeless tobacco or e-cigarettes. All those numbers represent an all-time low, which is very good news. Matthew Myers, president of the nonprofit Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said that this is an amazing progress, especially considering that about 30% of young people smoked cigarettes back in 2000. This change is also beneficial for the health of young people and prevents them from developing diseases like lung cancer, heart disease and many other problems.

However, there are still too many young people using various tobacco products, 3.9 million of them. Also, anti-tobacco advocates are warning that this process can become very slow. Especially if the Trump administration will weaken the regulations on e-cigarettes and tobacco. According to Robin Koval, president and chief executive of Truth Initiative, a nonprofit organization, this huge progress can be the first step towards ending this unhealthy habit for good, in the United States.

Regulations on e-cigarettes

Back in 2016, the Food and Drug Administration decided to regulate e-cigarettes and some other tobacco products. However, in May, it delayed some of the regulations. This happened because vaping and tobacco industries tried very hard to stop those regulations through legislation. The e-cigarette industry said that their product is safer than normal cigarettes and that it should not get banned. Also, that the rules would drive them out of business. In order to find out how many young people are using tobacco products, the CDC asked them whether or not they have used any in the past 30 days.